Town Square

Fire trucks in Menlo Park to go paperless

Original post made
on Nov 9, 2012

Firefighters often have reading to do as they're heading to a situation. It could be a hazardous materials spill or a fire safety inspection. To review their procedures, the cabs of fire trucks have long been equipped with books and informational binders, but that's changing.

I was going to write about the buildings'floor plans, but I see at the end, that they already do that. The city has all the plans for every building, newly built and one's that have had any sort of major inspection done, so anything that is not already in their database, the city planning dept. should be able to provide. As for human emergencies, I, personally, have both a thumb drive, provided by Medic Alert, which is attached to my keys and a Stanford Hospital card that can be "swiped", to tell emergency personnel my complete medical history, so those are things the city or the Fire District can promote, to aide them in assisting people, in an emergency. I can't even manage photos on e-mails, but I have my life history on a thumb drive; who knew!

Thank you Virginia Chang Kiraly for your help in bringing the Menlo Park Fire Protection District into the 21st century. You are a great asset to the community and we are most appreciative of your dedication and hard work.

Posted by Menlo Voter
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Nov 10, 2012 at 11:21 am

Resident:

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see anywhere in the article that credited Virginia with getting this done. In fact, knowing how government agencies work, it's safe to say this was in the works long before Virginia was even elected. By the way, the election is over, she won, you can stop campaigning now.

Posted by Bob
a resident of Menlo Park: Downtown
on Nov 11, 2012 at 9:43 pm

I agree with Menlo Voter. Since Ms. Kiraly has only been on the board less than a year, I'm sure the work on this project began well before she took office. If anyone deserves credit, I'm sure it's Mr. Zollicoffer as part of his job.

Posted by downtown
a resident of Menlo Park: Downtown
on Nov 12, 2012 at 2:02 am

Virginia Chang Kiraly is the mot influential fire board director in San Mateo County. Her professional experience in finance and as a member of the State Commission on Economic
Development, together her substantial volunteer service in the community, have prepared her well to serve the Menlo Park Fire Protection District. She is a bi-partisan problem solver who always listens with an open-mind.

Great! Now if we could get them to go "firefighterless" we could really achieve some cost savings! When is the city going to consider merging the Menlo Park Fire Protection district with larger entities to the North and South (I.e., Palo Alto and Redwood City) or consider merging the Police and Fire Depts into one Public Saftey Department? Most of the calls the Fire Dept responds to are medical related and usually not all that emergent in nature (people falling out of wheel chairs, cats stuck in trees, etc.) Why does Menlo Park need a standing army of firefighters ready to take on some type of raging inferno that historically the city has never been at risk for?

Posted by Bob
a resident of Menlo Park: Downtown
on Nov 12, 2012 at 7:02 am

Downtown:

I don't agree with your assessment of Ms. Kiraly. This was her fourth attempt at an election; she was bound to win one of these times and even vacillated over whether to run for this office. Regardless, She knows very little about the fire and emergency service profession and would be seen as an outside in the industry.

Posted by Menlo Voter
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Nov 12, 2012 at 7:11 am

Michael:

the city has no say as to whether the fire department merges with other entities. It is the Menlo Park Fire Protection District not city. They provide fire services to more than just the city of Menlo Park.

Posted by agree
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Nov 12, 2012 at 8:58 pm

Menlo Voter has it right. The Fire District shares a name with the city, but the city has no control over the district. I'm always baffled when people propose that Menlo Fire should merge with Palo Alto. Palo Alto is on the other side of the creek, and in another county. Fire Board candidates would be required to run in two counties, which would require fees from each registrar for ballot statements. Palo Alto has their own city fire department, the idea of a merger with Menlo Fire is really very odd.

Regarding Kiraly, at her very first meeting of the board, she nominated Rex for Vice President, passing over Jack Nelson who was next in line. Rex has already served as President several times. This kind of petty back stabbing is childish, and may lead to her being passed over as well. Virginia will need more allies that a few anonymous posters if she has any real future in politics.

Posted by Menlo Voter
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Nov 12, 2012 at 9:12 pm

Virginia, bought and paid for by the firefighters union. Sure starting to show isn't it? Let's see if she makes a move to negotiate with a union that refuses to negotiate. That will truly tell the tale.

Posted by neighbor
a resident of another community
on Nov 13, 2012 at 10:35 am

MICHAEL....Your comments are bizarre "Most of the calls the Fire Dept responds to are medical related and usually not all that emergent in nature (people falling out of wheel chairs, cats stuck in trees, etc.) Why does Menlo Park need a standing army of firefighters ready to take on some type of raging inferno that historically the city has never been at risk for?"

ACTUALLY...most of the medical calls are heart attacks and strokes.

As to "people falling out of wheelchairs" being trivial....try to simulate that experience so you can understand. Tie you hands and feet together, fall on the floor, and try to get help.

Injuries, medical emergencies can happen to anyone, in an instant you are completely vulnerable.

Do you really thing that fire and gas explosions don't happen in nice neighborhoods too? Every year local families lose their homes to these emergencies. And the emergencies can happen on a disastrous scale -- Ask the folks who survived San Bruno.

Agree,
I happened to be at the first meeting. Jack Nelson withdrew his name after Kiraly nominated Rex Ianson and gave her reasoning for her nomination of Ianson. It was a unanimous vote for Ianson to be Vice President of the Board.

To Menlo Voter,
You should wonder why Kiraly nominated Ianson, instead of wanting Nelson to be the next VP. If anyone was bought by the unions, it was Nelson in his last election in 2009. The only reason why he won was because of the firefighters union. They campaigned hard for him and spent money on signs for him and two others, just like they did for Silano. It's a good thing that Kiraly nominated the most senior member of the fire board for VP. I can't imagine Nelson, the union steward, as the President of the fire board, especially when he is up for re-election in 2013!

Posted by Bob
a resident of Menlo Park: Downtown
on Nov 13, 2012 at 2:46 pm

The Fire Board now has 3 union supported and/or backed members -- Kiraly, Silano and Nelson. The union also spent more than $50,000 in the last election to get their candidates elected. Both Silano and Nelson are pretty chummy with the fire union members.

The big question is whether the electorate will take note and vote accordingly.

Kiraly did not accept money from the union and was not put in any of their mailers, signs, etc. I don't consider her a "union" person, but I can see where you are coming from. I guess time will tell, but I wouldn't put her in the same category as Nelson and Silano.

Posted by neighbor
a resident of another community
on Nov 13, 2012 at 4:36 pm

If I were running for office I'd hope to get those endorsements too. Those organizations and the unions their members may belong too are not subversive organizations.

Bob --- there was a message to all wing-nuts in last week's election. People are sick of wild charges, and the threat that the communists are taking over. Voters reject the nonsense. Didn't you get the memo?

Posted by Menlo Voter
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Nov 13, 2012 at 5:11 pm

neighbor:

No they're not subversive organizations. They're organizations that are buying influence with the very same people that are supposed to be negotiating on behalf of US. The problem being that US don't have an organization to buy influence with the politicians. So guess what happens? Ridiculous compensation and unsustainable pensions. All brought to you by the politicians that the unions were able to buy. I'm tired of it. I want someone on MY side of the table as opposed to what we have now.

Look beyond: if you think a union endorsement has no meaning and no expectations from the endorser, ask Peter Carpenter what happened when he accepted the firefighters union endorsement. They came calling for pay back. Fortunately for us, Peter told them to shove it. He then had a union target on his back.